Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-01-08
WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION.
BY JAMES J. AYERS.

| pom examining the biography OF IL
lustrious men, you will generally find some
female about them, in the relation OF
mother, or wife, or sister, to whose instiga.
zion great part of their merit is to be
ascribed. You will find curious example
of this in the case of Aspasia, the wife OF
Pericles. She was woman of the greatest
beauty and the first genius. She taught
him, it is said, his refined maxims of policy,
his lofty, imperial eloquence; nay, even
composed the speeches on which so great a
share of his reputation was founded"
Thus wrote the elder Adams from Phila-
delphia to his wife-his Aspasia-in 1777.
In the very suggestive extract we may find
the key to the successful resistance of the
thirteen colonies to the usurpations and OPP
pressions of the British crown. The Amer
lean revolution was precipitated at time
when galaxy of exceptionally noble and
heroic women presided over the homes of
our infant nation. Not only were many of
the leading spirits of our contest for free
dom blessed with wives who were equal to
the highest sacrifices and the most patriotic
endeavors, but in the common ranks of life
spirit of lofty emulation actuated the
great mass of American women in sustain
ing their husbands by word and deed and
endurance in their mighty conflict with a
powerful and relentless foe. If Amer
lea at that time could boast of her
Martha Washingtons, Abigail Adamses and
Mercy Warrens, she could also point
with pride to her Charity Rotches, her
Lizzie McCallas and her Mary Goulds
fhoir b,1ShapIc forfl,
mothers their sons. In the absence of the
men the women titled the ground and per-
formed all the work of the farm. They
were equal to every emergency, and by
their heroic conduct and devotion to the
cause of liberty they inspired the men with
lofty valor, an unyielding endurance and
a contempt for the most trying trials. In
| their long and arduous marches, with
| bleeding feet and craving stomachs, they
were sustained by the knowledge that
their wives and mothers and sisters were
not only praying for them and the cause,
but submitting to every physical and men
tai sacrifice in their power to second the
endeavors of the men. A sublime spirit
of patriotism became the elevating senti-
ment that filled every heart, and the women
of the revolution infused into it a morale
which rendered their husbands invincible
in the field. Never before was that word
of the voice in the Garden of Eden, which
said to our common parent, " have given
| her as help-meet" more splendidly
realized than by the wives of the revolu-
tionary patriots. Mrs. Sigourney has pre-
served to US one of the most touching
anecdotes of that period.
In thinly-settled part of Virginia the
quiet of the Sabbath eve was once broken
by the loud, hurried roll of the drum.
Volunteers were invoked to go forth and
prevent the British troops-under the pitt
less Tarleton-.from forcing their way
through an important mountain pass. In
an old fort resided family, all of whose
elder sons were absent with our ARMY,
which at the North opposed the foe. The
father lay enfeebled and sick Around
his bedside the mother called their three
sons, of the ages of -, Is and II years.
Go FORTH my children, each and all of
you. | spare not even my youngest, my
fair-haired bcy-.he light of my declining
years. Fear not, Ernest; mothers
prayers will surround you in the time of
struggle, and If you fall, my lamentations
will mingle with thanksgiving that l had
one, even dearer than all the rest, to devote
to my country
With such mothers the cause of freedom
was safe. They evinced a spirit which
superior power might for time Cypress,
but could never permanently subdue. But
there is not time, in paper like this, to
even glance at the great matter of notable
instances of heroic devotion of the women
of the revolution. We can only sum up
their exalted character in general allusion
to the patriotic virtues which distinguished
| these noble matrons to so remarkable de-
gree. While they were all untiriDg in
their devotion to home duties so greatly
augmented by the absence of the men in
the service of their country, there was no
lack of instances in which the women of
the period exhibited high order of martial
courage. We all remember the gallant
services of Captain Molly Pitcher, who
followed her husband to the field; and
when, at the battle of Monmouth, he fell,
his devoted wife took his place, and served
so well her dead husbands gun that GEN
eral Washington's attention was directed
to the circumstance, and ordered a COM
mission to issue to her as Lieutenant.
This is only one Of hundreds of instances
where the wives of the revolutionary
heroes took mems parts in the great role,
and fought with a gallantry that COM
PEELED the admiration of even the hardest
veterans
with nerve to WELD the battle brand
And join the border fray,
They shrank not from the foeman,
They qusiied not in the fight,
But cheered theirhusbands through the day,
And soothed them through the night"
proud were they by the men to stand.
In hammock, lort or glen,
To load the sure cd rifle
To run the leaden ball
To watch a battling husbands place,
And I'LL it should he fall
II is no Disagreement to the women of
other times to exait those of the American
revolution above their common sisters of
every age. In every great crisis in the
worlds history, what we euphonistically
term the weaker sex. has displayed a
strength and courage in wonderful con-
trast with their normal delicacy of charac-
ter and constitution In all the trials and
vicissitudes of the Hebrews, the Israelitsh
women were distinguished for their stead
faStness of purpose and their exalted cour-
age. Hecuba maintained her dignity and
fortitude even when Priam fell before the
whit and wind of Pyrrhus' sword.n
Penelope in her worse than widoShood,
preserved her faith in Ulysses, and with in
genious device held her eonspiring sisters
at bay till the tardy return of her wander
ing lord. The matrons of Rome saved the
commonwealth from the irresistible Voices
when all other expedients bad failed. The
sanguinary scenes of feudal warfare in the
Middle Ages, are softened By episodes in
which women tempered the barbarity of
ferocious ehieftaiHs by their courageous
mediation or determined protests. Among
the Christian martyrs the names of illus
trious women more than offset those of de-
voted men. The Reformation boasts of
line of females whose histories are Iumi-
nous with acts of sublime devotion.
persistence and lofty courage. In
deed, the annals OF the worlds
great events are replete with tesii-
nlonials TO the superior virtue and exalt-
ed possibilities of women in the face of
crucial emergencies Ho!ofernes had his
Judith and Msrat his Corday. Some of